U.S. should speed Afghan pullout

From media accounts, the war in Afghanistan has hit a disturbing snag which was precipitated by President Hamid Karzai's recent remarks following the U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's visit, when he accused the Taliban terrorists and America of being in cahoots with each other ("Hagel's shaky Afghan debut," March 12).

This should solidify President Barack Obama's plans to withdraw our troops from this area by the end of 2014, and I would suggest even sooner after hearing Mr. Karzai's stinging remarks.

In order to protect ourselves against the Taliban in the future, the U.S. could utilize spies which would be discreetly left behind in that area in order to keep the U.S. informed of the activities being executed by the terrorists groups; and then with this information, I would recommend that America retaliate with pin-point bombing and/or drone attacks.

Mr. President, may I strongly suggest that you accelerate your 2014 plans for evacuating our troops from Afghanistan and the surrounding areas which would provide for us Americans to happily witness our U.S.-led military coalition begin bringing home most of our 100,000 troops and tens of billions of dollars in equipment which would finally end this horrible 12-year-old war.